Dancing with Death
by Sanded Silk
Summary: My first multichaptered story. Sakura has the pleasure of dancing with a murderer, and their thin relationship blossoms into something else. NejiSaku
1. Chapter 1

This is gonna be my first-ever twoshot- maybe it'll be a threeshot. Yay! Now all I have to do is survive it... o.O

Anyway. Sakura gets her first taste of dancing with a criminal, and it happens to be- unkown to her- the most violent one there is. How unlucky it is for her to capture the heart of such a man...

After he is taken to jail... hm... I'm still contemplating on what happens then... XD

**Disclaimer: ...NYAH.**

--Sanded Silk--

* * *

"Hmph." 

Sakura hated village parties- hated them with a passion, and here she was yet again, stuck in a strapless midnight-blue dress of her mother's, loud music blaring from a mysterious source. She didn't even have a date.

Sakura turned a few circles on her heel to see if anyone she knew was in sight. Unfortunately, no one was. With another contemptuous sigh, she picked up her dainty glass of some sort of wine she picked at random, and took a sip.

One day... one day, she would call the spirit of the person who first created village parties and torture him/her.

The music changed from fast and stupidly senseless to slow and sensual. Many people began to dance slowly. No one noticed the lonely pinkette in the corner of the room, watching everyone with half-open, envious emerald eyes.

And suddenly, it seemed, one person did.

A young man, with long chestnut hair tied back into a careless ponytail and emotionless silver eyes, came up from behind Sakura and placed a hand on her shoulder. Sakura gasped and turned around, finding herself face to face with the man. With his long chestnut hair and mysterious eyes, he momentarily caught her in a trance, and the two merely stood there, frozen into place, staring at each other. Sakura was struck across the face by how starkly handsome this stranger was. He carried a mysterious aura of darkness and charm; seductiveness, to describe it in better terms.

It was he who broke the moment. He held out a gloved hand, in a silent way of asking her to dance with him. She hesitantly, shyly, took his hand, and he whirled her onto the dance floor.

Couples stopped to watch the pair dance. Anyone could see the sparks that flew between the blushing young woman with sharp emerald eyes and the handsome, poker-faced man, with flowing chestnut hair.

They danced through many more songs, neither of them feeling any traces of fatigue, their eyes locked on each other the whole time.

Finally, it was time to go, and suddenly, Sakura was reluctant to leave. The young man released her hand, backed away, and bowed. Then, he turned and walked away.

Sakura took a half-step after him. "W-Wait! You never told me your name..."

The man stopped and half turned around to stare at her for a long, hard moment. Sakura drew back, her breath catching in her throat from the intensity of the man's gaze. He shook his head slightly, and his mouth curved into a smirk.

"It's better that you don't know who I am." And he turned back around, resuming his stead pace to the doors.

After a long time, Sakura broke down from her tense pose. She calmly pushed aside her tousled pink hair, pulling on it slighty to straighten it. After running her hands briefly over the wrinkles in her dress, she headed for the door, ignoring the jealous stares she was getting from other young women.

Suddenly, police sirens began to blare around the building. Sakura's easy walk turned into a speedy run as she rushed outside to see what happened. At least a dozen or so police officers had surrounded one lone person; a person who didn't seem to be fighting back. As they closed around the person, Sakura caught a glimpse of the criminal.

It was the young man she had been dancing with earlier.

Sakura ran up to a nearby officer and tapped him on his shoulder. "Sir?" She yelled over the commotion. "What is going on?"

The police officer gave her a strange look. "Why, missy," He said as loud as possible, "It's the murderer that haunted the northern parts of Konoha! He's been convicted of 34 murders in the past 2 months. We've been searching for him for a long time. It's pure luck that someone recognized his prominent features and notified us." He puffed his chest out proudly.

Sakura stumbled away from the annoyingly-victorious officer and away from the crowd, from the searing stares of strangers, by the doors of the building she was in moments earlier. She braced herself against the door frame with the palm of her hand, and continued watching the mysterious young man as he was practically thrown into the truck that hauled criminals away. He walked in calmly, not reacting to the push that a particularily bold officers forced onto him.

As he turned around to face the screaming crowd, his silver, emotionless eyes caught Sakura's sharp emerald ones for a fraction of a second, before someone slammed the doors of the truck shut and drove away rapidly.

-0-0-0-0-

Sakura lay on her bed in her apartment, exhausted. She turned over slowly, onto her stomach, and hugged her pillow tightly to her chest. Well, this was interesting. She finally got her first taste of dancing, and it just happened to be with the worst criminal in the history of Konoha yet.

She didn't know whether to feel angry at the criminal, or sympathetic, or afraid, or even appreciative. He could have easily snapped her neck on the dance floor, but instead, he had kept his large, masculine hands well away from her neck. But why was she angry? Sakura herself couldn't put her finger exactly on the reason why she would be angry at the criminal who had, surprisingly, spared her life earlier that night. Maybe she was angry because he had danced with her, in such an intimiate way, without telling her who he was. But that was just purely impossible. If he told her, she would have yelled a string of curses and kicked him in the crotch, wouldn't she have?

Sakura sighed, frustrated. She didn't know what to do about the situation. A cool, collected person would tell her to drop the situation and pretend nothing happened. An overly-compassionate person would tell her to visit the poor idiot at jail, where he was most definitely residing as of now.

Sakura rolled over again, onto her back, and sighed, staring at the cieling. She made her decision then; she would visit him tomorrow, but nothing else would happen. Maybe she'd stare at him for a few minutes through the window; the police officers probably wouldn't let her do much more than that.

Ah well, she'd improvise when the time came.

Sakura rolled onto her side, draped her banket over herself, and fell asleep.

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**A/N**: Yesh!! I'm done with the first stupid chapter!! 

...Anyway. This story, I've decided, is gonna be a threeshot. Possibly a fourshot, if I decide to add an epilogue. -whew-

--Sanded Silk--


	2. Chapter 2

Second chappie. Read and **_REVIEW_**, plz, and fank you.

...Seriously. I appreciate the millions of story alerts and favorite alerts I've been getting with this story, but some reviews would be REALLY nice. -hint hint nudge nudge wink wink-

**Disclaimer: ... -turns around and walks away-**

--Sanded Silk--

* * *

The next morning, which was- thankfully- a Saturday morning, Sakura got up a few minutes before the prison opened. She dressed carefully; a red turtleneck sweater that almost reached her mid-thigh, long tan slacks, and black heeled boots that nearly reached her knees. She tucked the hems of her pants over the hems of the boots, so she wouldn't look like an army officer. After eating breakfast and brushing her teeth, she threw on a black coat and left her apartment, preferring to go by foot.

Sakura slowly entered the large, grey building, the clack of her boots making an echoing racket. She walked slowly to the front desk, where a female officer was sitting. The officer peered up at her curiously. "May I help you...?" The woman asked, surveying Sakura scrutinizingly.

Sakura moistened her lips. "I'm here to... visit someone."

The officer nearly spilled her cup of coffee. "What?"

Sakura sighed. "You heard right. I'm here to visit someone who was taken here last night. The criminal that haunted the northern parts of Konoha, correct?"

The officer looked at her closely. "I don't know what sort of business you have with him," She said, "but I'll let you see him. You're just in time; we have orders to ship him to the elite interrogators, not far from here, at night."

Sakura breathed a small sigh of relief, and followed the reluctant officer into the dark hallways.

They passed millions of doors, all hiding a different criminal from their sight. Sakura shivered as she walked into and out of different auras. Then, finally, she walked into the aura she recognized so well from last night.

The officer sighed deepy, grabbed her ring of keys, and unlocked the door. "Go on in," She said. "I'll be out here if you need me. Just scream if he breaks out, or something; I'm armed. OK?" Sakura looked a bit bewildered. 'Wow,' She thought as she nodded, smiling. 'These people really are afraid of the dude I danced with last night...'

Slowly, hesitantly, she stepped into the dark room. It was a small, dark hallway of its own. To her left was a small corner of the room, surrounded by thick, closely-spaced bars. She squinted into the small corner, and saw, to her shock, a pair of silver eyes staring back. She turned around, in time to see the door close, and to hear the click of the lock falling into place. Too late to turn back now.

With a deep breath, she turned around and walked boldly to the young man barred from her reach.

"Why are you here?" He asked in his cold, emotionless voice when she reached the bars. Sakura, her eyes adjusting to the dark, finally saw the criminal in a little more detail. His ponytail was let down, his long hair draping over his shoulders and hanging down his back. He was wearing exactly what he had been wearing last night. His face was smudged with dust and grime, and though there was a bed and a table nearby, he was sitting on the floor, looking surprisingly comfortable.

Sakura wrapped her fingers around the bar in front of her, and continued staring at him for a moment, before she spoke. "I thought you would be... lonely," She said, her voice stronger and more confident than how she really felt. "And I wanted to see you again."

The young man stood up and walked over to her. He placed his larger hands over hers, keeping them firmly in place. Sakura managed not to flinch as he brought his face down to hers. If it weren't for the bars, he would have been in perfect proximity to kiss her.

"Really?"

Sakura felt a blush beginning to well up in her cheeks. It took almost all of her strength and willpower to supress the sudden surge.

"Yes," She said, nodding once. "Why, do you want me to leave?"

He seemed to be caught off by the question. He abruptly released her hands and turned his back on her. "You," He murmured softly, almost in an inaudible voice. "Last night, I hadn't planned on even attending the party. I don't know what possessed me to step into that Hall last night."

He turned around suddenly, his hands covering hers again roughly, his silver eyes boring into her. Sakura flinched this time.

He continued in his low voice. "When I saw you, standing there, in that dress of yours, with your pink hair and green, green eyes... I felt something, like a feeling before I kill someone." He paused, watching her shudder. "Except... this feeling was... different. It burned into my heart. Inflamed me. I couldn't keep myself away from you, no matter how hard I tried."

He narrowed his eyes. "And when I was dancing with you, I could easily have lured you away and hurt you, killed you. But I didn't. I couldn't. What was it? What was it that stopped me?!"

He banged his forehead against the bar directly between him and Sakura. "You..." He panted shakily, and Sakura shuddered even more violently at the intense fervour in his eyes when he finally lifted his head to face her. He released her hands roughly and turned away from her, his face in his hands. "You..." He murmured softly.

Sakura wanted, suddenly and desperately, to change the subject. Her hands were still clamped onto the bar before her, her knuckles subconciously getting whiter and whiter as she clenched harder and harder.

"Do you plan to escape?" She blurted.

The young man turned around slowly to face her again, removing his hands from his face. He had put his poker-face mask back on, and his eyes were as emotionless as ever. "Yes," He said flatly. He grapsed the bars around the bar she was holding, clenching it tightly, as though he wanted to break them and throw them out of the way. His breath tickled her chin.

"When you leave..." Sakura gulped before continuing. "When you leave, will you come tell me before you do?" He looked skeptical, and slightly surprised. "You don't need to tell me where you plan to go. Just... come by before you leave. You know, to say good-bye..." He stared at her, scrutinizing every detail of her face. "My apartment is out the police station, to the right, and past five blocks," She continued eagerly. "It's this big, white-and-red building, with a blue roof. My room is on the fourth floor."

He nodded slowly. "Alright. I'll try."

Sakura almost smiled. "Ok." She glanced at her watch. "Oh my gosh! I need to GO! My boss told me I had extra work to do..." She unclenched the bar, her fingers aching, and turned around to hurry away. A hand flashed out and caught her wrist, drawing her back to the barred corner of the dark room. Sakura gasped and whirled her head around.

He was staring at her intently. "One last look..."

Sakura was confused. "Aren't you... didn't you... weren't you going to stop by my apartment before you leave?" He slowly shook his head. "I don't know if I surely will. The police will be on my tail, and I don't want them bothering you." He traced every curve, every valley of her face with his eyes, as though he were looking notes over before a big test. He stopped his gaze-wandering at her eyes, memorizing the exact shade and hue of her pupils.

Finally, he turned away. "You can go now."

She stared at his back silently for a few moments. Suddenly, something struck in the back of her mind. "You never told me your name."

He slowly turned around, staring at her with unblinking eyes. She gazed back, no longer afraid of his intimidating stare.

"Hyuuga Neji."

She smiled and bowed slightly.

"Haruno Sakura."

Then, in perfect unison, the two people- the pink-haired young woman and the chestnut-haired criminal- turned around, and Neji continued to stare at the blank wall before him as Sakura grabbed the knob of the door and let herself out.

The officer was extremely surprised to see Sakura in one piece. "How did it go? Did he try to come after you? I didn't hear any yelling; I thought he would try to kill you!"

Sakura smiled calmly. She was in a strangely calm mood. "He didn't do anything." She said calmly, simply, and turned around to walk toward the door of the police station. The female officer watched her back for a moment, completely flabbergasted, before she followed Sakura toward the front office, still bemused.

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**A/N:** Meh. This chappie was ok, but that's only because it'll be continued, so I don't need to worry about choppy endings... XD

Plz **_REVIEW_**!! And to quote myself from the beginning of the chapter: "

...Seriously. I appreciate the millions of story alerts and favorite alerts I've been getting with this story, but some reviews would be REALLY nice. -hint hint nudge nudge wink wink-"

XD

--Sanded Silk--


	3. Chapter 3

NYAH. Dis is da thrd chaptr. ...Sorry, I just got off of g-chat, where proper spelling/grammar is a no-no... o.O

Ah well. Basically, Neji manages to fulfill his "promise" to Sakura in the last chappie. There is- definitely- gonna be an epilogue (mebbe a pt-I and pt-II thing... o.O) XD I'm thinking about making them meet, like, two years later, in Suna, or something... :D

Sorry that this took so long to update. I was down most of this week by a flu, and now I'm preparing to be completely thrown out a window by the math exam...

**Disclaimer: ...Seriously.**

--Sanded Silk--

* * *

It was raining. 

Sakura stared outside her closed window, at the pouring rain. She felt extremely claustrophobic, because it had been raining torrentially for the past week or so, and she was stuck in her apartment, with nothing to do. Most frustrating of all, she had not seen a single strand of hair off the head of Hyuuga Neji for the past two weeks. She sighed and sipped her honey tea, aching at heart.

She slammed her cup of tea down as something snapped inside her. "I need... ADVENTURE..." She murmured to herself. She threw on her raincoat and boots over her pink sweater and jeans.

Taking an umbrella with her, she thundered down the stairs and to the front door, allowing her boots to make the maximum amount of noise. She swung the door open slightly and stepped out into the torrential night. She breathed in the cold, crisp air.

Suddenly, something white flashed, and a sudden presence was standing behind her. Sakura squeaked out loud and jumped a foot into the air. She whipped around and gasped when she saw the identity of the intruder.

It was Hyuuga Neji; that was his name, wasn't it? He looked even more beautiful than she could remember, with his sopping-wet chestnut hair, intense silver eyes, his intimidating, muscular body, towering over hers. The only differences in his appearance were scratch and cut marks in his skin, which she realized with a start. What had happened to him?

Neither spoke for a long time. Neither knew what to say.

Sakura moved first. She moved a step closer to him and placed a hand hesitantly, slowly, over a scar on his forearm, as though she didn't know for sure whether he was real or just a hallucination. When she felt his arm perfectly well underneath her delicate fingers, she gripped onto him tightly, unwilling to let go. During this whole event, neither had looked away from the other.

When Neji didn't seem to notice she had touched him, Sakura slipped her hand from his arm and wrapped her arms around his dripping torso, burrying her face into his rain-showered shoulder.

Sakura felt his heartbeat, strong and deep, thrumming in his chest, pounding against her shoulder. She ran her lips over a deep gash in his shoulder, waiting for him to respond to her embrace. Instead, he just stood there, perfectly still.

Then, she felt him raise his arms. She loosened her embrace, ready to be pushed away.

But instead, he practically threw his muscular arms tightly around her small frame and pushed his face into her soft, dry hair. She gasped slightly, but didn't try breaking free of his deathly-intimate embrace.

He raised her off her feet, so that their faces were equal height, and slammed her against the wall of the apartment wall, his lips crashing onto hers. Sakura gasped involuntarily, but was unable to fight the stronger criminal.

"Mmnnh..."

He kissed just like how he killed; violently, demanding, not showing the slightest thread of mercy. No matter how loudly her conscience screamed at her to fight back and to gain control, she couldn't summon the strength to overcome him. The most she could do was to weakly encircle her arms around his neck, which only proved to egg him on.

Kissing him was like kissing someone from the fiery depths of the underworld. He was a sinner; not just any sinner, like a normal human being, but an extreme sinner; one who had made his face visible in the papers. Usually, a criminal was thought of as ugly, unhygienic, vulgar, and unsophisticated. But this particular criminal was different. He didn't smell bad, had satisfactory manners, and had a labrynthine persona. And, he was devilishly handsome.

When he finally released her, both were panting harshly. With their faces only a few millimeters apart, Sakura could feel his hot breath blowing over her swollen lips. She couldn't force her eyes to open completely as the two stayed in their position, neither wanting to ruin the moment, under the shade of the apartment roof from the depressing rain.

Slowly, he released her, and allowed her feet to touch the ground. She felt as though her legs had turned to cotton swabs, but caught herself in time before she fell on her face. He kept her lightly pressed against the wall and engulfed her in what seemed like a last hug. This one was light and soft, as though he was afraid that holding her too tightly would break her.

"I need to leave," he muttered into her hair. "What?" Sakura was afraid she didn't hear correctly.

"You heard me." Sakura could hear the pained frown in his voice. "I have to leave Konoha. It won't be long before the police find that I'm gone, and if someone saw me with you just now..." He didn't continue, didn't want to speak of the danger and torture she would have to face and undergo.

Sakura nodded into his chest once, for fear that her voice would break if she were to speak.

For the longest time, neither spoke a word. It was just the patter of raindrops, the occassional flash of lightning, the crack and boom of mournful thunder.

It was Neji who broke the stillness. He released the shorter girl and backed away into the dreary street.

"...Neji..." Sakura took a step after him, her foot brushing the umbrella she had subconciously dropped.

Neji turned his head a fraction of an inch. "Who knows?" He said softly, and for the first time, Sakura saw a genuine, sad smile spread over his swollen lips. "Maybe we'll meet again..."

And he disappeared into the darkness.

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**A/N: **I know, I know, this was an unacceptably SHORT chapter, but I'm sorry!! There wasn't very much I could say in this chapter, or else I would have sounded like a blabbermouth... o.O 

...Well, there WILL be an epilogue... I think...

After this story, I will IMMEDIATELY (which translates to 'sooner or later') be starting a new one!...I shouldn't talk about it now, considering the fact that this isn't even the last chapter... All I WILL say, though, is that the idea for this new story has been tugging at my mind for _forever_. So I can't wait until I can get it down on paper... or, in this case, on my computer... T-T

**_NOW IS WHERE YOU PRESS THE REVIEW BUTTON..._**

--Sanded Silk--


	4. Chapter 4

Epilogue. Yay! Not I get to obsess over my new story! -is happy-

...Nothing much to say, except read and **_review_**, plz... :D

But seriously. Reviews, even if they are a bit flamy, make me feel warm and fuzzy inside... -is sheepish that I just expressed this openly-

**Disclaimer: I. DO. NOT. OWN. NARUTO. (Wish I did, though :-/)**

--Sanded Silk--

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It had been three years after that rainy day. Surprisingly, Sakura had pulled herself together successfully and had gone back to life. The questions she got frequently from her friends about her strange behavior during the next few weeks after her last encounter with Hyuuga Neji slowly faded to nothing, and by now, Sakura was sure that no one remembered her sudden change in personality three years ago.

However, Sakura hadn't given up on Neji. She remained single, and turned down many dates, including one from Sasuke, whom everyone had believed to be her number-one crush.

One summer morning, the hospital that Sakura worked at got an emergency message from the medical center of Suna. Tsunade-sama, the manager of the hospital that Sakura worked at, had ordered an elite team of the top medics in Konoha to go to Suna to help. "There was a severe sandstorm at Suna," Tsunade-sama had said. "Many people are dead, and more are wounded. There are too many people for all the medics in Suna to treat alone."

Sakura had been chosen as one of the elite team.

When Sakura finished the journey, she went right to work. She signed in at the main medical center and moved to her assigned area. As she wrapped a white scarf around her mouth and walked through the streets, she noticed- with a pang- how beaten-up her surroundings were. Buildings were wrecked, trees snapped in half, bodies left in the roads. Children were huddled together on the curbs and crying, their clothes torn, some clinging to the bodies of dead family members. A coating of sand covered pretty much everything. Sakura felt stab after stab in her heart as she passed these pitiful sights.

Before she could reach her destination, a sudden apparition of chestnut appeared and disappeared at the corner of her eyes. She gasped and whirled around, but didn't see anything.

As she stared around, wary, a voice blew over her ear. "Sakura."

With another gasp, she whirled again, and saw more of the intruder before he disappeared. The chestnut she had seen was his hair; his long, long hair. He wore dark, ragged clothes. His face had been hidden from view.

Sakura spun on her heel and ran after another flash of chestnut, which, this time, had appeared by the wreckage of a nearby building.

Sakura turned a corner, screeching slightly, but almost as soon as she found her ground, someone caught her by her hand from behind and pressed her against the wall, her feet a few inches from the ground. She felt her breath catch in her throat and throw itself against her chest.

Sakura kicked instinctively against her attacker, but he threw his hips against hers, forcing her lower body down against the wall. When they finally met eyes, Sakura found herself staring into the silver, pearly orbs of the man she hadn't seen or heard from in the past few years.

"N-Neji!"

"Hn." He smirked, and aimed his lips straight for hers, trapping her in the forceful, demanding kiss that she remembered so well.

Sakura felt her head completely give away. She became dizzy, and her eyes half-closed. She, again, couldn't fight the strength of the oppressive male, who currently had her pressed against a wall and was kissing her senseless.

He pulled his face back, drawing deep breaths. Sakura kept her eyes closed, waiting for him to dive back in. When he did lean back in, it was for a chaste, soft kiss, and then, the pressure on her hips and arms released and disappeared. Sakura snapped her eyes wide open, but no one was there.

Sakura gasped for air, sliding down the wall, letting out the breath she had been holding. "W..." She pressed a hand to her chest and felt her heart fluttering in her ribcage. "What...?"

Sakura closed her eyes, the sunlight shining through her eyelids.

Suddenly, a shadow passed over her. Sakura snapped her eyes open again, stood up, and looked around overhead. Neji was standing over her, on an outward-jutting piece of debris. The light of the sun behind him shadowed his face, but Sakura could swear her life that he was smirking down at her. His long hair blew out beside him in the breeze, making him look even more ominous, before he stood and nimbly jumped away, out of sight.

Sakura didn't bother calling after him. She knew that he wouldn't come back. And if she did call him back, what would she say?

Sakura stood up, dusted herself off, turned, and started to walk away.

"Aww," A voice sounded behind her, and long chestnut hair washed into view from behind her. An arm encircled her waist, stopping her from leaving. "Are you giving up on me so soon?"

Sakura jumped and squeaked, and the pair of arms behind her drew her back into the shadows. "I was just playing with you," Neji said into her hair. His voice sounded like dark chocolate; dark, sweet, slightly bitter. It was just a shade deeper than last time she had heard him speak. "I haven't kissed a woman in three years. I'm not letting you get away so easily..."

He wound his arms even tighter around her smaller frame, burying his face into the crook of her neck. Sakura let out a small moan as he ran his murderous, dried lips over her neck.

It seemed like hours from between the time he dragged her back into the dark alleys and the time he finally let her go. In that amount of time, he completely invaded her; he kicked down the walls she had built inside herself, running his hands roughly over her body, kissing every inch of skin her clothes allowed to show. And of course, Sakura- as always- could do nothing in her own defense, but to lay back and- enjoy?- the affectionate attention the former criminal was showing her.

When at last he readjusted her clothes, murmured an affectionate good-bye in her ear, and disappeared into thin air, Sakura sat up, slightly dizzy, and rubbed her temples. She was certain that he wouldn't come back for her this time, though he probably would in the later days for as long as she was here in Suna.

Sighing, she stood up, flipped the collar of her jacket back into place, and walked to the edge of the shadow that the alleys threw. She turned to look one last time, back into the dark, pathways that the alleys formed, before turning back and stepping into the light.

* * *

**A/N:** Meh. I guess this could use work... -shrugs-

I got lazy at the end, and my horrible ending-writing skills kicked in. Soo... plz, don't flame my poor endings; I know they're bad...

Hm... well, good thing is, now I get to write my new story that's been tugging at my mind for FOREVER!!! -is happy-

... NOW IS WHERE YOU PRESS THE **_REVIEW_** BUTTON...

--Sanded Silk--


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